Green County Budget Invests In Frontline Services

6 February 2012

WE CAN'T STAND IDLY
BY

1. The Conservative
budget is a disaster for severely disabled people of all ages in Oxfordshire.
There were cuts last year in services for Older People, for people with
Learning Disabilities, for people with Physical Disabilities, and for people
with Mental Health problems; there are cuts this year, and the promise of worse
to come. The services that are affected
are not luxuries. They help people get out of bed, to get dressed, to wash, to
eat, to get out and have a life. The starting point for these cuts was an
already inadequately funded service.

2. A County Council cannot completely protect even its most
vulnerable residents because so much depends on national government grants, which
have been slashed. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat government has embarked on
a long-term programme of cutting public services. We predicted last year that
the cuts would weaken the economy and increase the national debt. We have been
proved right.

The Government is trying to rescue the situation by printing
tens of billions of pounds. This will also fail. The weakening of the economy will
increase unemployment, increase the national debt and lead to calls for further
destruction of local government.

3. Even if we were wrong about the effect of the cuts on the
economy we would still budget for better Social Services. This is a rich county
in a rich country. For us to deliberately develop plans which leave thousands
of people in conditions which threaten their
health and dignity is wrong. Two
weeks ago AGE UK said that their research revealed that England is in "a social
care crisis". They were supported by the
Alzheimer's Society which said "It is completely unacceptable that spending is falling in this
vital area." This applies with equal
force to Oxfordshire.

4. These amendments are an attempt to deal with this crisis
and othershortcomings. Over the five years (2012-2017) of the Medium Term Financial
Plan (MTFP) we propose to make available an additional £56 million pounds.

HOW WE WOULD RAISE THE EXTRA MONEY:

5. First is a question of priorities. There is no reason why
Oxfordshire's Park & Rides should be subsidised at the expense of people desperately
trying to make a life for themselves. A modest £2 a day maximum parking charge
would bring in £4.5 million during the period of the MFTP.

6. The larger amount of extra money that we raise is through
an inflation-based increase in Council Tax of 3.5%. We do not do this lightly, because
we know that the £40 a year (£3.38 per month) extra payment is a lot of money
to many people. It is because of this that over the last five years the Green
group has proposed the lowest increases of any Party in the County Council. But
this year we are convinced that the crisis has to override this concern.

7. The Coalition Government has offered a 2.5% grant to
authorities which freeze their Council Tax. It is, on the face of it, attractive. In reality it is a device for
accelerating cuts. Freezing the tax revenue would result in needing an 6.5%
increase the next year- or large cuts in public services.

HOW THE EXTRA MONEY WOULD BE USED:

We would be able to restore nearly £24 million to Social
Care.

In addition, we would invest £3.355 million to keep our
libraries fully professionally staffed, prevent homelessness, which is rising
rapidly, expand Credit Unions which keep poor people from having to use loan sharks
and provide English language classes so that our new citizens are able to fully
participate in the life of our community We would expand the successful
Apprenticeship system by £1.5 million.

We would also invest £6.1 million to bring in about £35
million for the people of Oxfordshire. We do this by providing free home insulation
to all the households in the poorest areas of the County. The £3.5 million we
invest would attract about £10 million from utility companies under their
Carbon Emission Reduction Target obligations. This would virtually end fuel poverty
in the County. Thousands of people would be rescued from the pain and ill
effects of cold and would be able to save £15 million, over the 5 years in
reduced energy costs. This is money which they would spend locally rather than
paying to the energy companies. We would increase the amount of Debt and
Benefit advice for people with disabilities and for those being affected by the
long recession by £2.5 million over 5 years. There are hundreds of millions of
pounds of unclaimed pensions and disability benefits in a county like
Oxfordshire.

Past experience suggests this would bring at least an
additional £20million into the County.

BRINGING EXTRA EMPLOYMENT TO THE COUNTY:

10. The insulation work will provide about 100 decent-paying
jobs; the increase in spending on Apprentices would pay for about 30 more apprentices
per year. About 200 more people would be
needed to provide the additional care services, for a total of over 300
useful jobs.

RESERVES:

11. The Conservative's balance their budget by using over
£11m from the Efficiency Reserve. After
3 years, when this reserve has been spent the Conservative plans leave the
County £5.5million in the red, necessitating more cuts or a Council Tax
increase. By contrast, at the end of 5
years of this MTFP, we would need to make £5.9million less savings and would
have over £10million left in the Efficiency Reserve to allocate.

RECOMMENDATIONS

12. We RECOMMEND Council to approve:

(1) A budget for 2012/13 and medium term financial plan for
2013/14 - 2016/17 as amended in Green Group Annex 1;

(2) A Council Tax Requirement for 2012/13 of £294.455m

(3) The Council Tax for 2012/13 as set out in that annex and in particular a Council Tax for
Band D equivalent properties of £1,202.25